Car Free Days

Neighborhood Cargo Bike Share?

Posted on January 25, 2008 by Anne | 3 comments

Our neighbors stopped by the other day to test ride one of our Xtracycles. They took it for a little spin with their daughter on the back. We love (and even enourage) impromptu Xtracycle test rides. We can’t wait until someone we know takes the plunge. Come on – you know who you are – just go for it!

Continue reading →

3 Comments

Posted in bikes, neighborhoods, sustainability

Tagged bakfietsen, bikes, cargo bike, neighborhood

The (bike) Revolution will be Stylish

Posted on January 23, 2008 by Anne | 3 comments

Nice piece in Momentum about Jorg & Olif – City bike company in Vancouver BC. We get excited every time we read about interesting bike shops popping up. Anne first read about Jorg & Olif in Inhabitat a little over a year ago and was impressed by their stylistic approach to marketing their bikes. It’s a good way to reach a certain segment of the population – you know – the ones who buy $400 shoes. Continue reading →

3 Comments

Posted in alternative transportation, bigger than here, bikes, consumerism, Human Powered Politics

Tagged bikes, carfreedays, europe, marketing, revolution, transportation

Perfect for the Spatially Challenged

Posted on January 22, 2008 by Anne | 11 comments

I had a brief period of panic outside of Trader Joe’s today. I guess I’m used to the two-Xtracycle Trader Joe’s runs. You really don’t need to worry about whether it’s all going to fit or not when you’re loading up two. Sometimes Tim and I even fill up a shopping cart and a couple hand baskets and still get everything on the bikes.

I tried to be aware of the one-bike issue today – I set up my six cloth bags in the cart (the number that normally fit in the Freeloaders) and filled up each bag as I shopped. I was pretty confident I had showed enough restraint to get it all on the bike. Then I went to check out. As I was re-bagging after the cashier rang my stuff up, I noticed my six bags were bulging.

When the cashier read me the total – $205.68, mild panic set in.

Continue reading →

11 Comments

Posted in alternative transportation, BIG Loads, bikes, seattle, shopping, xtracycle

Tagged bikes, freeloaders, groceries, kona, seattle, sun, trader joes, ute, xtracycle

Neighborhoods and Bikes: Ballard

Posted on January 22, 2008 by Anne | Leave a comment

It’s fun to re-discover neighborhoods by bike. Sunday we took an afternoon jaunt down the Burke-Gilman trail with the kids. We’ve visited Ballard more frequently since we’ve been on two-wheels than we ever did in our car. Some of the things that make the neighborhood a bummer by car (lack of parking, long traffic light waits, and its misfortune of not being on the way to anywhere) actually make it more desirable from a pedal-powered perspective. It’s a 30-minute cruise from our house — far enough away to make it an afternoon destination yet close enough to make it doable with the kids on the back of the bikes.

Continue reading →

Do you really need a shower?

Posted on January 18, 2008 by Anne | 11 comments

Interesting discussion on Bike Hugger yesterday about accommodations for bike commuters. I agree – facilities for all types of cyclists are needed in urban areas. It would be great if Seattle provided secure bike storage facilities similar to bikestation around the city. Wouldn’t have to be huge – the size of a couple of parking spaces would probably be enough. Heck – I’d sure ride downtown a lot more for entertainment, errands and shopping if I was sure I’d have a secure place to park my bike. Tim and I often rule out downtown as a date destination because we’re not comfortable locking our bikes on the street while we’re seeing a movie etc. (edit by tim – especially in light of horror stories about stolen bikes, racks and all)

However, I don’t really understand the need for showers in the workplace or in a bikestation type facilities. Do you really need one? I’d think if you could just take a shower at home, dress properly for the weather, slow down a bit so you don’t work up that much of a sweat, you wouldn’t need to shower once you got to work.

Do you think these people shower when they get to work?

Continue reading →

11 Comments

Posted in alternative transportation, bikes, Commute, seattle

Tagged bikes, bikestation, commuting, cycling, seattle, showers, transportation

I Pimped Her Ride

Posted on January 17, 2008 by Tim K | 6 comments

It’s a tired old title cliché, but really, what else do you call such an exercise in vehicular vanity?

Regular readers may remember Anne complaining about her bike being in for service last week. I tried to remind her that other people travel to shops and pay a mechanic to accomplish the work magically completed on her bike, but apparently even that doesn’t excuse said mechanic to remove saddle and Snapdeck from her main source of transportation.

To make up for the inconvenience, as I tackled some minor tuneup tasks and installed her honey Brooks B17-s Christmas present I threw in a few stylistic upgrades: Continue reading →

6 Comments

Posted in bikes, buildin' the xtracycle, xtracycle

Tagged bikes, brooks, carfreedays, cork, custom, leather, rivenell, saddle, shellac, xtracycle

Smackdown, day 2

Posted on January 16, 2008 by Tim King | 4 comments

I woke to the crunching sounds of feet on snow; my early-bird neighbors apparently made an unusual choice to leave their cars parked in favor of foot or bus. Welcome to Seattle where an inch of snow provokes panic. I must have been a bit nervous about the weather myself — crunching pedestrian parades wouldn’t normally drag a morning hater like myself out of a sound sleep a full 40 minutes early.

Continue reading →

4 Comments

Posted in alternative transportation, bikes, Burke-Gilman Trail, Commute, seattle, xtracycle

Tagged bikes, commuting, ice, metro, seattle, snow, traffic, weather, xtracycle

Seattle Weather Smackdown

Posted on January 15, 2008 by Tim King | 11 comments

So, I haven’t had a real commute in a while. A five-minute bike ride or 15-minute walk to the UW campus doesn’t count. So, when I got a new job I vowed to keep up the carfree style we’ve been working since the summer. It’s still not a major commute — 30 minutes each way via Xtracycle — but most people, certainly, would drive (especially if they have a free, covered, parking garage).

Well, today was my first day. On the way in, I got the typical Seattle misting. Pretty much expected, even though it wasn’t supposed to rain until the afternoon. No biggie.

And the way home?

Continue reading →

11 Comments

Posted in alternative transportation, bikes, Burke-Gilman Trail, Commute, weather

Tagged bikes, carfreedays, commuting, rain, seattle, sleet, snow, weather, xtracycle

You deserve that treat

Posted on January 12, 2008 by Anne | Leave a comment

The best thing about running errands by bike is you can justify that cookie at the end of the day. We stopped in at the Dahlia Bakery after a day of running errands. I did manage to resist their famous coconut cream pie – which they sell in 4 different sizes including a coco bite for $2 – for those who can’t justify a whole pie. Mmmmmm. Maybe next time.

-Anne

Yearly Budget

Posted on January 7, 2008 by Anne | 2 comments

I’m doing the dreaded beginning of the year stuff – cleaning out the closets, getting rid of stuff and reviewing our budget. In the process, I ran across our 2007 budget – it was pretty amusing to read it. The budget contained a line item for gas – $200 a month. According to my girlfriend that’s nothing – she pays $200 a week. We’ve only put 2 tanks of gas into our car since the end of August. That’s a lot of walking around money!

In the wake of gas price increases, have you seen your gas expenditures go up or down?

– Anne